Could I Be You
by LadyIrish
Summary: When the Shintenshin backfires, Ino winds up stuck in Shikamaru's body. What's more, somehow Shikamaru has wound up in Ino's body. Can they manage each other's lives until the jutsu wears off? Rating may go up in later chapters.


Disclaimer: Phef, if I owned Naruto, the dub would be _spotless_. And the show would be full of hot mansex.

Ino wanted to be angry about this situation, really she did, but unfortunately, it was all her fault. She formed the seal to release her technique again, but just as before, it did no good. It had been well-over five minutes, the release seal wasn't working, and she was still in Shikamaru's body.

_Think, Ino, think, _she told herself. How had this happened?

She had been trying to perfect the Shintenshin no Jutsu so that it would last longer, as five minutes wasn't really long enough to get anything accomplished. She thought she'd gotten it right, and had gone to test it out. She figured Shikamaru would be a good test subject, since he'd stay still without even being told.

Something had obviously gone quite wrong. Not only did she appear to be stuck in his body, it seemed Shikamaru had somehow been transferred to her body as well.

It was strange to see her own face glaring at her.

"Ino." It was her voice, though she recognized Shikamaru's drawl behind it. "What did you do?"

Nervously, Ino scratched the back of her- Shikamaru's- head. She explained the situation to him. She finished with a nervous laugh and a shame-faced grin that surely looked out of place on the lazy shinobi's face.

Shikamaru sighed, closing his eyes. "And, during all of this, did you happen to come up with a failsafe, should something go wrong?"

"Well... no. I could've sworn I had the jutsu down pat." She couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze.

He sighed again. "Fine. I'm sure there's some documentation of this happening before. We just have to find it and figure out how to deal with it from there." His- Ino's- eyes were more intense than she'd ever seen them. Though this was really the first time she'd studied the expressions on her own face. "Do you still have the scroll for this technique?"

She nodded vaguely, wondering why this situation bothered him so much. "It's not all that bad, is it? I mean, I've always wondered what it was like to be a guy. Well, you know, for more than five minutes."

"You could've asked," was all he'd say. He started off towards Ino's house. She trailed behind him, wondering what his problem was and getting angrier by the second. By the time they made it to the Yamanaka household, she was damn near ready to smack him.

These thoughts flew out the window when the door to her house burst open and Ino's father, Inoshi, glomped who he _thought_ was Ino.

"Ino-chan! Honey! I'm glad you're home!" He pulled back slightly and noticed the perturbed look on his "daughter's" face. "Ino-chan?"

Ino cleared her throat to get her father's attention. "Over here, Daddy."

Inoshi looked at her, confused. "Shikamaru-kun?"

"It's me, Daddy. I had a couple of problems with my Shintenshin."

"Clearly," he replied, slowly understanding the situation. He looked down at the "girl" he was still holding and carefully disentangled himself. "Erm, sorry, Shikamaru-kun."

Shikamaru would've shoved his hands in his pockets, but Ino's dress wasn't equipped with pockets. "It's okay."

"Daddy, would you mind helping us fix this?" She gave him the puppy-eyed look she always used when she wanted something, which looked truly bizarre on Shikamaru's face. "Please?"

Inoshi sniffled slightly and hugged her tightly. "Oh, muffin, of course I will! I can't stand to have my baby trapped in- well, this-"

"Where's the scroll?" Shikamaru interrupted, clearly annoyed.

"This way." She led the way to her bedroom, where the scroll lay amongst a pile of others.

Ino unfurled the scroll and immediately set about reading it. She sense Shikamaru by her side, his eyes also scanning the parchment. It was a while before they found anything pertaining to the advanced technique. Ino spotted the scenario first and, with a cry of excitement, she began to read.

"Only one recorded incident of this technique backfiring was said to have consequences. The user and their target switched bodies and could not change back. No release trigger was found; however, they returned to their normal bodies one week later." (Professional sounding scroll, there.)

Shikamaru sighed and ran a hand through his newly-acquired blonde locks. "Great. So we're stuck like this for a week."

Ino felt rather downtrodden. She hung her head. "I'm sorry about this, Shikamaru."

The lazy shinobi stared at her in surprise. Ino was apologizing for something. That was new. "...Don't worry about it." Uncertainly, he placed a hand on her back. "I'm not upset. That would take too much energy."

Ino managed a laugh at that. She looked up at him and cracked a smile. "It is so weird to be comforted by yourself."

Shikamaru grinned lazily. "It's equally weird to comfort yourself." When their amusement died down, he continued. "We should probably stay close for the week. Mostly to make sure you don't do anything dumb to my body."

Ino scoffed. "Same to you. Anyway, I'm definitely changing these clothes. Seriously, I've never seen you wear anything else." She sniffed the collar and wrinkled up her nose. "Do you even wash this?"

He grunted. "Sometimes." Really, he wore different clothes every day (they just all looked the same), and he did laundry once a week, but he enjoyed the revolted look on her- his- face. It was entertaining, and required no effort, making it one of Shikamaru's favorite types of entertainment.

Ino shook her head. "Let's go to your house. I need to take a look at your wardrobe."

Shikamaru shrugged. _As long as I don't have to pay attention._

They left Ino's house, leaving a tearful Inoshi crying about his 'poor little muffin.' About halfway to Shikamaru's house, Ino spoke. "Ne, Shikamaru?"

"Hn."

"Could we keep this as quiet as possible? You know, not tell anyone besides our parents?"

"Sure, I guess. Why?"

She refused to meet his gaze. "I don't want everyone to know how badly I messed up..."

Shikamaru smiled to himself. That was just like Ino, doing anything to save face. "Right. Imagine if Sakura found out."

Ino stiffened visibly. "You won't tell, right?"

"In the off-chance I actually talk to Sakura, I'll be sure not to mention this mess."

"Or anyone else?"

He sighed. "You're so troublesome. Of course I won't tell anyone."

Ino looked away. "...Thank you."

"Hn."

They'd been in Shikamaru's room for about five minutes and already Ino had vetoed all of his clothes. She sighed. "Your clothes are boring. Though I do like the fishnets."

Shikamaru just grunted, laying on his bed staring out the window, trying to forget the decimation of his wardrobe. _Ah,_ he thought, _the clouds are nice..._

He was broken from this train of thought by a shout of frustration from Ino. "That's it, tomorrow we're going shopping." She pointed at his old clothes. "Give those to Good Will or something."

"No. I like my clothes."

She arched an eyebrow at him and he thought to himself, _Is that how I always look?_ "Fine. Look like a fashion train wreck for the rest of your life."

Shikamaru was getting a little annoyed. "Like your clothes are so much better. What's up with this collar? It's pierced, for crying out loud. And how do you use the bathroom with these bandages all over your thighs?" He tugged lightly at the bandages in question.

"It's not easy," she admitted, "but I'm willing to suffer in the name of style."

"Well, I'm not." He sat up and faced her. "The minute I have to go, the bandages are gone."

Ino gaped at him. "You can't parade me around half-naked!"

"You should've picked a more sensible outfit this morning, then." Never mind the utter lack of logic in that statement. Shikamaru feared he was all too good at being Ino.

Before she could respond, the door burst open and Shikamaru's mother burst in. "What have I told you about keeping the door open when you have a girl in your room?" She eyed the clothes strewn about. "And just look at this mess!"

Shikamaru sighed. "Che. How troublesome."

His mother looked at him, but saw Ino. "Well if you don't like it, you can leave." The steely look in her eyes implied that there was no choice involved.

Shikamaru realized a moment too late whose body he was in. Oh, good. Now he'd gotten Ino kicked out of his house.

Ino quickly tried to explain, "Actually, Nara-san, I'm Ino. See, we were-" Her sentence dissolved into a yelp of pain as Shikamaru's mother grabbed her "son's" ear.

"Tell your guest to leave. Now."

Wincing in pain, Ino complied. "Sorry, Ino-chan, you have to go home now. I'll see you tomorrow."

He gaped at her. Kicking him out of his own house? Ino-_chan_! Fine. If that's how she wanted it. "Fine, Shikamaru-sempai, I'll go. Maybe tomorrow you can come by my place instead." Here he winked in what he hoped was a flirtatious manner. Then he took his leave, reveling in the disgruntled look on Ino's- his- face.

As he shut the door behind him, he heard his mother growl, "You will do no such thing."

It was getting dark. Shikamaru headed for Ino's place, though he wasn't looking forward to being alone in a house with Inoshi.

Wasn't there any other place he could go? Well, there was Chouji's house. But Ino had asked him not to tell anyone else. Surely she wouldn't mind Chouji knowing? They were teammates- they were friends- after all.

Shikamaru sighed. It would be better to ask her about it. He didn't want to make her even angrier. He was already going to hear it for the situation he'd caused with his mother.

Besides, one night alone with Inoshi wouldn't kill him.

...He hoped.

To be continued!

Erm, let me know what you think.

I'm pretty sure Ino's father's name is Inoshi, but tell me if I'm wrong. And I have no idea what Shikamaru's mom's name is. Geh.


End file.
